July 01, 2014

Leaving City Life Behind

Every year in early summer, Russian cities experience a massive demographic shift with a deceptively modest name: Переезд на дачу (the move to the dacha). For weeks, your downstairs neighbors with children have been telling you: “После последнего звонка – поедем.” (“We’ll go after the Last Bell” – the ceremony marking the last day of school.) And then, one fine day you suddenly realize that the park is half-empty, the courtyard is quiet, and there isn’t the sound of video games filtering up from the downstairs apartment. Уехали! (They’re gone!)

Dacha preparations may involve a number of mysterious conversations. Your neighbor seems to be discussing an industrial process, or perhaps a medical procedure, with a friend.